Independent city and Counties of Nevada
LocationState of Nevada
Number16 Counties
1 Independent city
Populations(Counties only): 744 (Esmeralda) – 2,322,985 (Clark)
Areas(Counties only): 264 square miles (680 km2) (Storey) – 18,147 square miles (47,000 km2) (Nye)
Government
Subdivisions
  • City, Community

There are 16 counties and one independent city in the U.S. state of Nevada. On November 25, 1861, the first Nevada Territorial Legislature established nine counties.[1] Nevada was admitted to the Union on October 31, 1864, with 11 counties.[1] In 1969, Ormsby County and Carson City were consolidated into a single municipal government known as Carson City.[1]

The FIPS county code is the five-digit Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code which uniquely identifies counties and county equivalents in the United States.[2] The three-digit number is unique to each individual county within a state, but to be unique within the entire United States, it must be prefixed by the state code. This means that, for example, while Churchill County, Nevada is 001, Alameda County, California and Baker County, Oregon are also 001. To uniquely identify Churchill County, Nevada, one must use the state code of 32 plus the county code of 001; therefore, the unique nationwide identifier for Churchill County, Nevada is 32001. The links in the column FIPS County Code are to the Census Bureau Info page for that county.


Counties

County
 FIPS code[2] County seat[3] Est.[3] Origin[4] Etymology[1][4] Population[5] Area[3][6] Map
Carson City 510 (Independent city) 1969 Founded 1858, consolidated with Ormsby county in 1969. Carson River, named in turn for Christopher Houston (Kit) Carson (1809–1868), the frontier scout and soldier. 58,130 144 sq mi
(373 km2)		 State map highlighting Carson City
Churchill County 001 Fallon 1861 Original Sylvester Churchill (1783–1862), a general in the Mexican–American War. 25,843 4,929 sq mi
(12,766 km2)		 State map highlighting Churchill County
Clark County 003 Las Vegas 1909 Lincoln County William A. Clark (1839–1925), former United States Senator from Montana, and builder of a railroad line through the area. 2,322,985 7,911 sq mi
(20,489 km2)		 State map highlighting Clark County
Douglas County 005 Minden 1861 Original Stephen Arnold Douglas (1813–1861), former United States Senator from Illinois. 49,628 710 sq mi
(1,839 km2)		 State map highlighting Douglas County
Elko County 007 Elko 1869 Lander County A Shoshoni word meaning white woman. It is said, among the very old Shoshoni, that this is where they first saw a white woman. 54,046 17,182 sq mi
(44,501 km2)		 State map highlighting Elko County
Esmeralda County 009 Goldfield 1861 Original Esmeralda Mining District, named in turn for the legend that a massive amount of emeralds was buried in what is now Nevada. Esmeralda is the Spanish and Portuguese word for emerald. 744 3,589 sq mi
(9,295 km2)		 State map highlighting Esmeralda County
Eureka County 011 Eureka 1873 Lander County Greek expression Eureka, meaning I have found it!, in reference to deposits of silver found in the vicinity. 1,863 4,176 sq mi
(10,816 km2)		 State map highlighting Eureka County
Humboldt County 013 Winnemucca 1861 Original Humboldt River, named in turn for Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), a German naturalist and explorer. 17,272 9,658 sq mi
(25,014 km2)		 State map highlighting Humboldt County
Lander County 015 Battle Mountain 1862 Churchill County & Humboldt County Frederick W. Lander (1821–1862), an American Civil War general and developer of the area. 5,766 5,798 sq mi
(15,017 km2)		 State map highlighting Lander County
Lincoln County 017 Pioche 1866 Nye County and territory ceded by Arizona. Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth President of the United States. 4,482 10,635 sq mi
(27,545 km2)		 State map highlighting Lincoln County
Lyon County 019 Yerington 1861 Original General Nathaniel Lyon (1818–1861), who was killed in action at the Battle of Wilson's Creek. 61,585 1,994 sq mi
(5,164 km2)		 State map highlighting Lyon County
Mineral County 021 Hawthorne 1911 Esmeralda County Mineral deposits in the area. 4,525 3,757 sq mi
(9,731 km2)		 State map highlighting Mineral County
Nye County 023 Tonopah 1864 Esmeralda County James W. Nye (1815–1876), a governor of the Nevada Territory and U.S. senator from Nevada. 54,738 18,147 sq mi
(47,001 km2)		 State map highlighting Nye County
Pershing County 027 Lovelock 1919 Humboldt County John Joseph (Black Jack) Pershing (1860–1948), the World War I general. 6,462 6,009 sq mi
(15,563 km2)		 State map highlighting Pershing County
Storey County 029 Virginia City 1861 Original Edward Farris Storey (1829–1860), a captain killed at Pyramid Lake in the 1860 Paiute War. 4,170 264 sq mi
(684 km2)		 State map highlighting Storey County
Washoe County 031 Reno 1861 Original The Washoe, a small Indian tribe that inhabits the area. 496,745 6,342 sq mi
(16,426 km2)		 State map highlighting Washoe County
White Pine County 033 Ely 1869 Lander County Heavy growth of pine trees in the area, thought to be white pine. 8,788 8,877 sq mi
(22,991 km2)		 State map highlighting White Pine County

Defunct counties

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Political History of Nevada". Nevada State Library and Archives. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-08-17.
  2. ^ a b "EPA County FIPS Code Listing". US Environmental Protection Agency. Archived from the original on 2012-10-08. Retrieved 2007-08-18.
  3. ^ a b c "NACo – Find a county". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on July 6, 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-16.
  4. ^ a b "Counties of Nevada". Nevada-History.org. Archived from the original on 2007-08-17. Retrieved 2007-08-18.
  5. ^ "U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Nevada". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
  6. ^ "Nevada QuickFacts". U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 2013-10-30. Retrieved 2007-08-16. (2000 Census)


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